Chávez calls on the people and armed forces to be alert

Faced with a possibility of a plan to create destabilization after the upcoming Dec. 2 referendum, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela called on the people and the armed forces to be on the alert, Prensa Latina reported.

In a speech in the western state of Zulia to inaugurate a development project, Chávez said it was necessary to be attentive to any perverse plan of the opposition given the probable victory of the “Yes” vote for constitutional reform.

The changes to 69 of the Constitution’s 350 articles that voters will consider propose the granting of constitutional authority to community power and establish new political/administrative concepts to reinforce popular participation.

The president warned that there are attempts to manipulate surveys in order to create confusion among the Venezuelan people. He said that there are also plans, in the face of a “Yes” victory, to claim fraud and to take to the streets and generate violence and destabilization in the country, and that is why the people, armed forces and organized communities must be on the alert and very attentive.

Chávez accused bishops of participating in a plan to try to scare the population with statements like that of Cardinal Jorge Urosa, who said that with socialist-leaning reforms, religious freedoms would be eliminated.